Digital advertising agency Studiocom (Barbie Girls) has announced a partnership with Paws Inc.—global manager of the Garfield IP—to allow the use of Garfield properties in Studiocom's proprietary virtual community MiniEgo.

MiniEgo might be news to you—it was to us—it's the virtual world that Studiocom launched officially very quietly earlier this year, but was it was launched in early 2006 as a "testing ground for Studiocom's proprietary MMOC engine 'Galapagos,'" though they saw fit to launch it as an official MMO after "the children of Studiocom employees began playing on the site and sharing their experiences with their peers."

The community features all the usual sort of aspects you would expect from these kind of worlds—avatars, e-cards and real-time chat, and could be considered to be a form of competitor to WeeWorld.

The partnership is to allow MiniEgo users to interact with Garfield characters and configure their avatars with "Garfield-inspired characteristics." Additionally, users will have the opportunity to visit "virtual destination venues" from the comic strip.

Garfield's integration into MiniEgo is to be promoted on Garfield online properties to drive traffic to the site.

"We are unbelievably excited about the partnership with Garfield," said Juan Pablo Gnecco, CEO, Studiocom. "Brand integration with an existing virtual world is a great value proposition for brands looking to capitalize on the popularity, engagement and brand immersion factors of online environments, without the full development costs. For us, this project is doubly rewarding as it allows us to integrate an iconic character into an environment that's near to our hearts, and give something back to the users who, in a sense, started it all."